Needle roll cold reduction mill



y E. B. HUDSON ET AL 2,

NEEDLE ROLL COLD REDUCTION MILL Filed Jan. 12, 1938 i i I8 E [6 i 5 I715 i W l ':F-\-/\ 30 l J l. I .1 [4- INVESTORS. A [aw/N B. Huaso v BYNDROBERT S. Bumvs.

ATTORNEYs.

Patent d July 11, 1939 Y UNITED STA'FFZ REESSilEfi 'PATENTQGFFIEC'ENEEDLE non. 'com annnc'rron MILL Edwin njnumn and Robert s. Burns,Middletown, Ohio, assignors to The American Boll-v ing Mill Company,Middletown, Ohio, a corporation 'of Ohio Application January 12, 1938,SerialNo. 184,815

1 9 Claims.

This invention relates to cold reduction mills and more particularly tomills having very. small working rolls, sometimes referred to' as needlerolls. Attempts have been made in the past tobuild mills having smallworking rolls but these attempts have not been entirely. successful, dueto horizontal deflection of the workingrolls. When conventional backingrollsare used, it is impossible to stay the small working rolls in ahorizontal plane. Another limiting factor, which is encounteredparticularly in four high mills where the working rolls are driven, isthe torque capacity of the roll necks. I

With the above difflculties in mind, it is an chject of our invention toprovide a rolling mill construction by means of which we are enabled touse very small working rolls, whereby we are able to attain to a greaterdegree, the known advantages of small rolls, such as the ability to makehigh reductions per pass with relatively low screw pressures, whereby,the weight of the machine may be considerably reduced.

It is another object of our invention to provide a rolling 'millconstruction in which the working rolls are supported throughout theirentire length by means of a half bearing and to retate the working rollsby means of the driving action of the strip.

The last mentioned object oflour invention involves the solution of theproblem of relative friction between the roll and the work and'betweenthe roll and its supporting bearing. It is, therefore, another object ofour invention to provide a construction in which the'friction betweenthe roll and its supporting bearing is very low in relation to thefriction between the roll and the work.

These and other objects of our invention, which 40 will be apparent toone skilled in the art or which will be pointed out more specifically,hereinafter,

we accomplish by that construction, and arrangement of parts and bythatmethod of which we will now describe an exemplary embodiment.

Reference is now made to the drawing forming a part hereof, and inwhich:

Figure 1 is a vertical transverse cross sectional view of a mill,according to our invention.

Figure 2 is a cross sectional view of the same,

3 taken on the line 2- -2 of Figure 1.

(o1. su -2.1.1 v

total power for-the reduction of gauge. The mill rolls are preferablydriven by the strip. The mill rolls are of very small diameter and aremounted in half-bearings, which bearings are arranged to be reciprocatedlongitudinally of the rolls to I greatly reduce the friction between therolls and the bearings without reducing the friction between' the stripand the rolls. Referring more particularly to the drawin we haveindicated generally, a mill having housings ill, in which are supportedtransverse beams I l, which are supported in windows in the housingsIll. The mill Y maybe provided with a conventional screw down includingthe screws I2, which are shown in contact with the upper transverse beamll.

The working rolls l3, as most clearly shown in Figure 2, are carried incast iron bearing members I l, which are provided with semi-cylindrica!bearing grooves for the rolls IS, the bearing members ll supporting themembers I 3, throughout their working length. The bearing members I, arecarried in reciprocating members IS, in any desired or conventionalmanner and the members V I5, respectively, ride upon a series of rollsl6, zlgijh are carried between cages I7, and which on the hardenedplates It. The hardened lates are supported in the beams H;

The rolls ii, are provided with hemispherical ends I 9, which bearagainst the cages ll. The working rolls i3, are necked down to a smallerdiameter at their ends, 'to take the rubber separating bearings 20, asbest seen in Figure 1. At

their ends, the rolls ii, are also made hemispherical so that they maybe held against lateral movement by means of the staying plates 2|.

Provision is made for reciprocating the membe'rs it, as follows:Eccentrics- 22, are mounted upon a shaft 23, and are provided withconnecting rods 24, one of which is conncted'to each of the members It,in conventional manner as indicated generally at 25. The shaft. 23,maybe provided with a gear 26, which may be driven through any. desiredlinkage, by one of the coiler motors or, if desired, by separate motor.

It will now be clear that as the shaft 23, is rotated; the bearingcarrying members I5, will be caused toreciprocate back and forth, ridingon the hardened rolls it, while the working rolls l3, will be heldagainst lateral movement by contact of their ends with the stayingplates 2|. In this way, friction between the working rolls and theirbearings, is greatly reduced while at the same time, the bearings staythe thin working rolls against deflection in a horizontal plane as wellas in a vertical plane. .At the same time, the friction between theworking rolls and .the strip 30, is not reduced so that the rolls 13,may be freely driven by the strip.

It will be clear from the above description, that we have provided amill construction in which working rolls of any desired small size, maybe used Without encountering the difliculties enumerated above. It willalso be clear that modifications may be made in our invention withoutincludes the steps of supporting the working rolls throughout theiroperative length, and reciprocating the working roll supports axially ofsaid rolls while pulling strip through said working rolls.

.3. In a rolling mill, a pair of working rolls, supporting bearings forsaid working rolls, and means for reciprocating said supporting bearingsaxially of said rolls to reduce friction between said bearings and saidrolls.

4. In a rolling mill, 9, pair of working rolls, supporting bearings forsaid working rolls, said bearings comprising semi-cylindrical grooves inwhich said working rolls rest and which support said rolls throughouttheir entire working length, and means for. reciprocating saidsupporting hearings axially of said rolls to reduce friction betweensaid bearings and said rolls.

5. In a rolling mill, a pair of working rolls, supporting bearings forsaid working rolls, said bearings, comprising semi-cylindrical groovesin which said working rolls rest and which support said rolls throughouttheir entire working length, and means for reciprocating said supportinghearings to reduce friction between said bearings and said rolls, saidreciprocating means including a driven shaft, eccentrics mounted on saidshaft, and connecting rods connecting said ec- 'centrics with saidsupporting hearings.

6. In a rolling mill, 9. pair of working rolls, supporting bearings forsaid working rolls, said bearings comprising semi-cylindrical grooves inwhich said working rolls rest and which support said rolls throughouttheir entire working length,

.and means for reciprocating said supporting rods connecting saideccentrics with said supporting bearings.

7. In a rolling mill having housings and transverse beams, hardenedbearing surfaces mounted in said beams, bearing members mounted forreciprocatory movement in said beams, bearing rollers mounted betweensaid bearing members and said hardened bearing surfaces to carry saidbearing members in said reciprocatory movement, said bearing membersbeing provided with semi-cylindrical bearing grooves, and working rollshaving their bearing in said grooves and being thereby supportedthroughout their entire working length.

8. In a rolling mill having housings and transverse beams, hardenedbearing surfaces in said beams, a pair of relatively thin working rolls,retaining means for holding said rolls against axial movemenubearingelements for taking the working pressure on said rolls and spacingblocks for maintaining a pass clearance when no stock is between therolls, said bearing elements having semi-cylindrical grooves to seatsaid rolls and being mounted for reciprocating movement axially of saidrolls, said mounting includingrollers riding between said bearingelements and said hardened bearing surfaces, and means for reciprocatingsaid bearing elements while stock is passing through the mill.

9. In a rolling mill having housings and transverse beams, hardenedbearing surfaces in said beams, a pair of relatively thin working rolls,retaining means for holding said rolls against axial movement, bearingelements for taking the working pressure on said rolls, and spacingblocks for maintaining a pass clearance when no stock is between therolls, said bearing elements having semi-cylindrical grooves to seatsaid rolls and being mounted for reciprocating movement axially of saidrolls, said mounting including rollers riding between said bearingelements and said hardened bearing, surfaces, retaining means for saidrollers and means for reciprocating said bearing elements while stock ispassing through the mill.

EDWIN B. HUDSON. ROBERT S. BURNS.

